The programme remains hugely popular worldwide. Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 diversity visa lottery, and over 131,000 were selected when spouses were included.
Published: December 19, 2025 1:30 PM IST
US President Donald Trump has suspended the diversity green card lottery programme, claiming it allowed the suspect in the deadly shootings at Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology to enter the United States. The move comes as the Trump administration tightens legal immigration channels following the attacks. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X that, on Trump’s orders, she directed the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to pause the programme.
Calling the scheme “disastrous,” Noem said the decision was taken to ensure that no more Americans are harmed. “This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” she said, referring to Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente.
Valente, 48, is suspected of killing two students and injuring nine others in a shooting at Brown University, and of killing an MIT professor in a separate attack. Officials said he was later found dead on Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Associated Press.
Court records cited by AP show that Valente first entered the US in 2000 on a student visa to study at Brown University. He later received a diversity immigrant visa in 2017 and was granted permanent resident status the same year. Authorities said it remains unclear where he was between taking a leave of absence from Brown in 2001 and obtaining the visa in 2017.
How will it impact Indians?
The diversity visa programme offers up to 50,000 green cards each year through a lottery system to people from countries that are under-represented in the United States. Many of these applicants come from African nations and other regions with low migration numbers to the US.
Countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US over the past five financial years are not eligible. This rule is meant to give more chances to countries with fewer migrants. Because India, China, Mexico and Philippines regularly cross this limit, their citizens are usually not allowed to apply for the green card lottery.
In 2021, around 93,450 Indians moved to the US. This number rose to 127,010 in 2022, which was higher than the total immigrants from South America, Africa or Europe. According to figures from the US Department of Homeland Security, about 78,070 Indians migrated to the US in 2023. These numbers mean India will stay outside the diversity visa programme until at least 2028.
The programme remains hugely popular worldwide. Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 diversity visa lottery, and over 131,000 were selected when spouses were included. However, selection does not guarantee entry, as winners must still clear background checks and other screening processes before getting permission to live in the US.
Fewer immigration options for Indians
Since Indians are excluded from the diversity visa route, permanent migration options to the US are limited. These include moving from an H-1B work visa to a green card, investing through business-based visas, seeking asylum, or applying through family sponsorship.
However, under stricter immigration policies pursued by President Donald Trump, these routes are becoming harder to access. As a result, many Indian migrants and US employers are facing growing uncertainty about future immigration prospects.
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